Cleveland Institute of Art dates back to 1882 with the establishment of a women’s college in the home of Sarah Kimball. Starting with just one student and one teacher, that school grew into a Cleveland institution of learning that now enrolls over 600 students and offers courses and galleries in the recently-constructed George Gund Building. Courses include traditional art mediums such as drawing and painting to photography and graphic design. The school also offers rotating exhibits in its galleries that are open to the public.
Founded in 1968, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland is a leading force in the cultural life of Northeast Ohio, recognized nationally and internationally for its vital and creative exhibitions and public programs. These strive to challenge, inspire, and teach a wide range of audiences. Through approximately eight exhibitions a year, all accompanied by public and education programs, and many also by scholarly catalogs, MOCA brings the work and ideas of diverse national and international artists to its audiences.
The Cleveland Botanical Garden opened at its current site in 1966. It has both native and foreign flora, herbs, and flowers that thrive in Cleveland’s climate. In addition, it also opened The Glasshouse in 2003, which offers visitors a year-round peak at the spiny desert of Madagascar and the butterfly-filled rainforest of Costa Rica. The Glasshouse features 350 species of plants and 50 different types of butterflies, birds, and reptiles.
The Cleveland Institute of Music began in 1920 when a small group of investors donated money to establish a school of music. It opened on December 8, 1920, at its first location on Euclid Avenue. Composer Ernest Bloch was its first musical director. Today, the institute is located on East Boulevard next to the Case Western Reserve University. It is one of eight independent music conservatories in the country.
The museum is operated by the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS). The Crawford Auto Aviation Collection is the centerpiece of this major exhibition. Setting the World in Motion explores the impact of auto and aviation technologies on Northeast Ohio during the first half of the 20th Century. The Crawford Auto Aviation Collection represents Northeast Ohio's vital role in transportation history. WRHS collects and preserves these historically and technically important automobiles, aircraft, bicycles, motorcycles, related accessories and Automotive Marque Files to illustrate the development and contributions of Northeast Ohio to the history of transportation state-wide, nationally and internationally.
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is among the top ten natural history museums in the country. It was established in 1920 and eventually became one of the best scientific research institutions in the world. Its collection numbers over five million artifacts and research specimens from around the world, representing the fields of archaeology, anthropology, botany, geology, paleontology, astronomy, zoology, and wildlife biology. The museum's collection features numerous memorable artifacts and specimens including a T-Rex skeleton, a cast of the early hominid "Lucy," and 3,100 human skeletons and 900 primate skeletons that comprise the Harmann-Todd Collection. Science education is an important focus of the museum and to that end, it offers a wide variety of programs for visitors of all ages including summer camps and lectures.
Located north of the Wade Lagoon, the Cleveland Museum of Art forms the focus of the city’s Wade Park Fine Arts Garden, which features the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The museum, which was founded in 1913 and opened in 1916, is considered to be one of the world's best art museums, holding over 45,000 works of art representing all regions of the globe and from ancient to contemporary. It is especially known for its excellent collections of Asian and Egyptian art. Notable artists in the collection include Botticelli, El Greco, Goya, Matisse, Renoir, Thomas Cole, Picasso, Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Chuck Close, and Monet. The museum also features the Ingall's library, which is one of the largest art libraries in the country. Admission to the museum is free.
This beautiful building, officially known as the Maltz Performing Arts Center at The Temple – Tifereth, is a synagogue and performing arts center located in Silver Park in Cleveland, Ohio. It was completed in 1924, and it is jointly operated by the Jewish congregation Temple – Tifereth Israel and Case Western University. Though originally the congregation’s main place of worship, most of the main services have taken place at the congregation's current house of worship in Beachwood since 1963. The congregation still uses The Temple, as it is sometimes called, for special occasions, and it is also home to the Temple Museum of Religious Art.
Located in the heart of the Case Western Reserve University, this marker commemorates one of the most important experiments in modern science. In a building located near this marker in 1887, physicists Albert A. Michelson and Edward Morley conducted an experiment to try to detect whether their light traveled through matter or whether it traveled in the absence of matter. Scientists had speculated that if waves traveled through matter such as water and air, light should travel through matter as well. People at this time referred to this hypothetical substance as "aether" or "ether." Michelson and Morley's experiments revealed that this theory was untrue: aether did not exist, and light traveled at a constant speed. This discovery was central to the modern understanding of the nature of light and how it travels.
Built in 1881, Adelbert Hall is the administration building at Case Western Reserve University. It was named after Adelbert Stone (1844-1865), the son of industrialist and railroad magnate Amasa Stone (1816-1883), who donated funds to relocate the university from Hudson, Ohio to Cleveland. The building was designed by architect Joseph Ireland, who combined Italianate, Stick/Eastlake, and Romanesque styles to give it its unique appearance. The building is four stories tall and made of buff sandstone. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour includes several historic buildings and many of Cleveland's leading museums of history and art. The tour concludes at the campus of Case Western University.
